Friday, December 24

I particularly enjoy today's header design. I do awesome things every now and then, even if it is just slapping my logo over a retro photograph. It's sometimes more fun than actually writing stuff.

Anyway, I hope everyone is currently enjoying a safe and happy Holiday weekend. The 2010 State Of The CDP Speech arrives on Monday, which is both the final essay of the year, but also a huge announcement concerning the very future of this-here CDP. I hope you come back for it; egg nog and smoked salmon will be served to those who request it.

Now, my 10 favorite TV shows of 2010. Enjoy!

10. Mythbusters

9. Conan

8. The Office

7. Community

6. Louis

5. Lost

4. 30 Rock

3. Modern Family

2. The Walking Dead

1. Friday Night Lights

I don't care what you have to do, finding a way to get into Friday Night Lights will be worth your time and efforts.

You're officially dismissed for Christmas break. Sound off in the comments section and enjoy your weekend. The CDP returns Monday with a huge State Of The CDP Speech 2010.

Monday, December 20

The CDP Year In Review - 2010.

What did 2010 mean to you? Seriously, I'd like to know. While I accomplished much, I feel like I may have sleepwalked through the bulk of it, zombified by my own deadlines and routine. Judging by the current mindset and mentality of those around me, we're all skidding collectively into 2011 on fumes; exhausted, beaten and completely unsure of what tomorrow holds.

It's like an epic film, only in real life, that's not as fun as it sounds. Mostly we're just tired all the time.

In January, I made my intentions known to publish my second book by the end of the year. This became my top priority, dropping me into a self-imposed Boot Camp that I only emerged from just a few weeks ago. I think I wrote some good posts over the last year, and I'm certain that things happened on a national scale that effected me personally, but I'll be damned if I can remember any of them right now.

I got up (most days), went to the office, went home, wrote a few pages and went to sleep. For nine straight months. I also may have drank a few cups of coffee, gotten drunk a few hundred times and took a shower or two, but that has to be the extent of my deviations. When I commit, I commit like a psycho. I created something in Aerating The Mashed Potatoes that I'm pretty fond of, but just like when I wrote Book #1 in 2007, the blog tended to get neglected at times.

Fortunately, The CDP Year In Review is here to remind us exactly what went down over the last 350-some days. Read along, click the links and have fun. You might learn something; I know I did.

January 6 - Kicking off the year in style, I have four impacted Wisdom Teeth removed. I almost instantly develop an addiction to muscle relaxers, which actually may explain why I don't remember too much about what else happened this year.

January 14 - I revisit a childhood memory: Digging a hole straight through to hell.

January 18 - Turning down the chance to murder another living thing says a lot about the character of a child.

February 5 - The first Lost Friday of the final season, another thousand pages of jokes and captions. The only people on the planet that wrote more about Lost were the writers of the show themselves.

February 16 - The CDP turns 6. Its baby teeth are all messed up, but in a cute way.

February 24 - The CDP Worldwide Mix-Tape Trade #7 arrives to much cheering and acclaim from music nerds on every coast.

March 12 - My first (and last) Lost Friday Liveblog. This is fun to do, but I get the sneaking suspicion everyone else hates it.

April 2 - Another great Lost Friday as the series begins to wind down. We started to come to the sad realization that almost none of our questions would be answered, which I actually found hilarious. Joke was on us.

April 20 - A little write-up I did about the Lost producers visiting Madison. They also wrote the new TRON movie, too.

May 28 - Lost Friday - 'The End.' Faith wins the 'Science v. Faith' argument, but only in a fictional sense.

May 31 - Now that Lost is out of the way, I start catching up and focusing on the book. I debate calling Book #2 Pinkerton, but the Missus talks me out of it because she likes it when I make money.

June 9 - Buy my old book before you buy my new one. Not the other way around, please. It's a fine book, but I don't want you to step backwards through my evolution as a writer. Then again, my mom liked the first one better, so I could be wrong on this.

June 14 - Speaking of mom, here's one of the better essays featuring her dysfunctional relationship with me.

June 30 - Nothing like a borderline Nervous Breakdown to make you re-evaluate stuff.

October 4 - The Walking Dead Friday replaces Lost Friday...for a little while. I commit to recapping 6 episodes, thinking for sure that the show would flop and be canceled. It becomes the biggest basic cable hit of all-time.

October 18 - The book is done. I have patience. I have drive. I have determination. Another goal accomplished...ladies.

October 22 - The cover of Aerating The Mashed Potatoes is revealed. The literary world scrambles to catch up with its pure beauty and Pop Culture brilliance. Lawsuits are flung from every corner of the globe.

November 2 - Aerating The Mashed Potatoes is unleashed to an unsuspecting (and still unsuspecting) public. Apparently, people don't like laughing until they piss their pants anymore.

November 5 - The debut of The Walking Dead Friday. I miss Amy already.

November 15 - My celebrity status can't even sell out a Chuck-E-Cheese.

December 10 - The Season 1 Finale of The Walking Dead Friday. Goodnight, sweet zombie.

December 14-17 - MyfavoriteAlbums of 2010. Not a fantastic year, but decent nonetheless. Just like the CDP.

Well, there you have it. 2010, revisited through the eyes of the CDP. Sound off in the comments section, enjoy your holidays and spend some time digging around and checking out some things you might have missed. We will return on Friday with a bonus post on December 24, as I count down my Top 10 TV Shows Of 2010. Then gear up for the 2010 State Of The CDP Speech on December 27, as we end the year with a big announcement.